Adobe rolls out Lightroom CC and Lightroom 6 with HDR and panorama tools

Adobe has announced new standalone and Creative Cloud versions of its image management and Raw conversion software, Lightroom. The latest versions gain simple HDR and Panorama merging tools that create DNG files from the merged results (16-bit floating point DNGs in the case of the HDR mode). Also added is the ability to paint-out regions of gradient filters, to allow more flexible overlays. Face Recognition tools have also been added, to simplify the tagging and retrieval of images.

The CC version of the software is also designed to tie-in with the iOS and Android versions of Lightroom, by allowing for collections you choose to be synced and available across multiple devices, as well as on a web platform. The CC version also works with Voice and Slate: two new programs for creating image-based animations and presentations.

The latest versions of the software make greater use of computers' graphics processors (GPUs), speeding up most processes and allowing complex tasks to run in the background without slowing the user experience. As per the company's announcement earlier this year, the latest versions require 64-bit operating systems.

HDR Merge, which previously required a round-trip to Adobe Photoshop, is now natively supported in Lightroom. What's more, the output is a 16-bit DNG file, which retains most of the flexibility of the original Raw.

Improvements to HDR and panorama merging

Previously, HDR merges and panorama creation would require round-tripping to Photoshop (or other 3rd party tools) and, even worse, would necessitate 'flattening' to a TIFF or PSD file, which locks in certain adjustments typically available to Raw files. New to Lightroom are these very HDR and Panorama merge options (including the ability to create HDR Panoramas), each offering just a couple of options but promising to do all the complex exposure and white balance matching in the background. Importantly, the HDR results are saved as 16-bit floating-point DNGs, to maximize subsequent processing flexibility. In other words, the resulting DNG should retain most of the full editing capabilities each individual Raw file would've had before the HDR or panorama merge.

The merging options and their ability to output essentially a Raw file is particularly interesting for post-processing applications we routinely engage in, and here we wish Adobe went a bit further and allowed for simple image averaging with Raw DNG output.

Image averaging opens up a number of possibilities, including lowering noise in images, which can also help extend dynamic range. For example, an image that's exposed for the highlights will typically have a lot of detail in the shadows, which are inherently noisy. Averaging a number of these images can clean up these shadows for further brightening, and avoids some of the local artifacts that can occur when merging drastically different exposures traditionally using HDR software. As far as we understand, though, simple image averaging isn't supported, though you can get close in Photoshop's HDR Merge by ensuring 'remove ghosts' is unchecked.

One of the 1/15s shots that was averaged with 10 others to simulate a longer exposure. Photo: Rishi Sanyal.

There's yet another advantage to image averaging: it allows you to simulate the effects of neutral density filters. Many newer wide angle lenses don't allow for the use of filters because of their large front elements. One way to simulate a longer exposure is to take a number of shorter exposures and average them together, as we have in the example above (roll-over the bottom right cell to see the original, shorter exposure). This requires a somewhat laborious layering process in Photoshop and, furthermore, requires 'flattening' of the file and therefore limited flexibility in further post-processing. A simple averaging feature with Raw output would be very much welcome, and though it's possible that HDR Merge may sort-of enable this, we'd love to see direct support of it from Adobe.*

Filter Brush and Face Detection tools

The new versions also bring a Filter Brush tool that allows for regions of gradient and radial filters to be painted out or in, to allow filters to be better matched to the image they're being applied to. Previously, while these filters were very flexible indeed, they suffered from an inability for finer control through masks. This brush tool should help address exactly that, by allowing you to directly edit, say, a gradient you've applied, as shown below:

A new Filter Brush tool enables direct editing of gradient and radial filters.

The Face Detection tool allows you to tag people in images, and will then attempt to identify those people in other photos. These identity tags can also be applied to images where the software hasn't recognized a face. By default, identity tags are kept private, so that they aren't exported with images.

Other features include CMYK soft proofing for previewing offset print output, panning and zooming of photos in slideshows, more control over music in slideshows and the ability to correct red-eye in photos of pets.

Lightroom CC comes included with all of Adobe's Creative Cloud packages, including the $9.99 per month Photography plan. These all include Slate, a template-based app for building tablet-friendly parallax scrolling presentations of images from Lightroom, and Voice, an app to create animated presentations. Also included is integration with the latest Lightroom apps for iOS and Android devices.

Adobe has confirmed that all the non-connected features will be included in a standalone software package called Lightroom 6, which will continue to be available as a perpetual license for $149. It's also available to existing Lightroom customers for $79 as an upgrade to any previous version.

Press Release:

Adobe Delivers Major Innovations To Creative Cloud Photography

SAN JOSE, Calif. — April 21, 2015 — Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced a major update to its Creative Cloud Photography plan with the release of an all-new Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC that delivers lightning-fast performance and new tools to edit, enhance, organize and showcase beautiful photos. With Lightroom CC and the legendary magic of Photoshop CC, Adobe Creative Cloud Photography empowers photographers to transform photos into amazing shots. Creative Cloud Photography also includes unique sophisticated mobile capabilities: automatically syncing photos with Lightroom CC on the desktop, Lightroom on mobile devices lets users access and edit their entire catalog of photos on iPad, iPhone as well as Android smartphones and tablets. At just $USD9.99 per month, Adobe’s photography plan champions photographers of every level -- bringing the tools relied on by photo pros worldwide within reach of anyone who loves photography.

“Photographers at any level are driven by their passion to capture the perfect shot and make it incredible,” said Winston Hendrickson, vice president of digital imaging products, Adobe. “Whether you shoot with a DSLR or smartphone, the Creative Cloud Photography plan gives everything you need to organize, edit and share amazing photos on mobile, web and desktop – thanks to the imaging power of Lightroom and the magic of Photoshop.”

Photoshop and Lightroom have been fundamental in the evolution of digital photography. Today, Creative Cloud Photography is leading the transition from a traditional desktop-based process to a more mobile, connected workflow for digital images. Anchored by a major update to Lightroom CC, Creative Cloud Photography is the must-have solution, offering powerful editing and photo organization across multiple devices, all powered by Adobe’s industry-defining imaging technologies.

Work Seamlessly Across Desktop, Mobile and Web With New Lightroom CCThe standard for photo enthusiasts and professionals, Lightroom CC is essential for perfecting and organizing photos. New features in this release include:

HDR Merge – Create natural-looking or surreal images from extremely high-contrast scenes by easily combining multiple shots taken with different exposure settings into a single raw high dynamic range image

Facial Recognition - Quickly find and categorize images of family and friends.

Video Slideshows - Create beautiful, polished slideshows using still images, video, and music along with professional effects like pan and zoom

Bring Out The Best In Your Photography - AnywhereFor anyone who loves photography, it’s essential they can organize, edit, and share photos from mobile devices. Automatically synced with Lightroom CC on the desktop, Lightroom on mobile devices lets users access and edit their catalog of photos across a full range of iOS and Android devices. This release includes a major enhancement for Android with DNG raw file support on compatible Lollipop-enabled devices, providing customers the full power of raw file post-processing on their Android smartphones and tablets.

Take It To The Next Level With Photoshop CCIn addition to Lightroom CC, Creative Cloud Photography plan includes Photoshop CC, the imaging software that continues to redefine creativity in the digital age. Celebrating its 25th birthday this year Photoshop’s legendary magic touches virtually all the inspirational imagery that surrounds us. Now, thanks to Creative Cloud Photography, photographers have a powerful round-trip editing workflow from Lightroom to Photoshop CC. Even cut out and combine photos on your iPhone and iPad with Photoshop Mix, connect to Creative Cloud, then refine your work in Photoshop CC.

Share Compelling Stories in Exciting New WaysIn addition to sharing instantly with social networks such as Facebook, Flickr and Instagram, new to Lightroom is the ability to create beautiful, polished video slideshows using still images, video, and music, featuring professional effects like pan and zoom. After using Creative Cloud Photography to produce stunning images, anyone can craft amazing stories that place photos at the center of the narrative, using two groundbreaking storytelling apps from Adobe: Slate and Voice.

New Lightroom CC Available to Creative Cloud Members WorldwideAdobe Creative Cloud has approximately 4 million paid memberships worldwide and all Photography and complete plan members are able to access the new version of Lightroom CC today – at no extra charge – showing, once again, the incredible ongoing value of Creative Cloud. Creative Cloud features the world’s leading creative desktop apps; a growing family of mobile apps that are seamlessly integrate with the desktop apps and creative assets; expert training; and access to a dynamic creative community, where creatives can discover inspiration and opportunity. A free 30-day trial version of Lightroom CC is also available.

Getting Started Is Easy:Creative Cloud Photography plan is designed to make onboarding easy whether you’re a beginner or pro, or have previously used Photoshop, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements or Apple Aperture. Available now is an easy-to-learn library of photography tutorials aimed at all levels.

Pricing and AvailabilityAdobe Creative Cloud Photography plan (USD$9.99 per month) includes Lightroom CC across desktop, web and mobile, Photoshop CC and Photoshop Mix (for iPhone and iPad). All products are also available as part of Creative Cloud complete plan. Information on Adobe Creative Cloud pricing and plans can be found at: https://creative.adobe.com/plans. For more detailed information about Lightroom CC product features, upgrade policies, pricing and language versions, please visit: www.adobe.com/go/lightroom.

*In the meantime, though, grab the excellent Photo Acute software that allows for this image averaging with alignment, outputting demosaiced Raw DNGs you can pull right back into Lightroom.

Recently, I purchased a boxed retail version of Lightroom 6. With the cd, I installed it on my main home computer. Then I took the disc to work and attempted to install it there on my main work computer. I got a message that said I was offline and[or] my clock was incorrectly set. Both are correctly set. I am on line and my clock is identical to my other computer. After numerous attempts, I easily installed it on my secondary computer at work. This is really inconvenient. Why won't it install and why am I getting an error message on my main computer.

For those who still are having troubles getting LR CC to play nicely with GPU acceleration with their HD Radeon graphics cards. If your card is supported by the Catalyst 14.4 driver below, then here's a fix to get it working:

It worked like a charm for me. The text says 14.1, but the 25th April 2014 drivers were listed as 14.4, not 14.1, btw. The uninstall utility was a bit nerving for me, as my system is AMD-everything and running Windows 10 Tech Preview to boot. Eventually it crashed with a BSOD. But it booted back up fine with a the default VGA-driver, enabling me to install the older 14.4 driver package. Now Lightroom likes my GPU:

hah.. I finally found the upgrade link after nearly 10 days of searching.. $79 is too expensive considering the improvements.. I mentally fight doing the subscription thing since it's just another monthly suck from my income.. but here it is searchers and seekers: Upgrade Lightroom without CC:

You guys should do a write up on Adobe's completely botched implementation of LR6 Face Recognition https://forums.adobe.com/message/7498891I was soo looking forward to his feature but sadly disappointed

Here is one great idea that I need to solve in Lightroom 6. I have 1000 images of my son in the "People" view and they are all in chronological order spanning 20 years. I would like to print all these tiles on my Epson 4900 printer each about 2" square on a 16" banner - x feet long. It would be a remarkable photo mosaic. Does anyone have any ideas how to do this? Is someone from Adobe reading this. It would be like a huge contact sheet and would make his mother cry!

Forget the difficulty to find the desktop version of LR6 on Adobe's website. To me that was not the biggest frustration. Worse is that LR6 does not support Flash Web Galleries. Arghhh!

So if you have an existing flash website, you cannot update it any longer. You are stuck with a small collection of tired looking HTML templates.

No, you cannot export your favourite Flash template from LR5 and re-import it into LR6. "LR6 does not support Flash templates". Double Arghhh!

Of course, all myc atlogues are now updated to LR6, new photos added, and I cannot go back to LR6 any longer. Triple Arghhh!

I bought Capture One to try alongside DXO. I reckon that is the way to go. Time to say goodbye to LR for me. I am annoyed with Adobe! Well, heck, they don't want us to use desktop software anyway. So its time for bye-bye.

For me, I will use panorama in LR6 mostly as a panorama preview , most of the work I make with panoramas requires the layers and layer masks that the tool makes in photoshop. The LR6 version is not configurable enough in terms of output etcetera .... and seeing that I loathe the las vegas, trashy, fantasy look of HDR processing I will not be using that part of the software either.- So the upgrade is not exactly a compelling need, but you have to have it to get the upgrades before LR7 I guess.

HDR-merge in Lightroom 6/CC gives DNGs that do NOT look like you describe! (I know what you mean!)

Instead, it gives what at first sight appears to be a normal looking image. But the sliders in the Develop module have a much greater effect from left to right. Things can be pushed to greater extremes.

I think it would be possible to make trashy images if you wanted to! But that is not the default.

yep, basically it merges the images together to contain x 3 stops of light or something high at least :P Just more information to play with. Each person has their own workflow though. I still haven't figured out mine yet. I kind of like the manual exposure blending in PS feel though

What Adobe did with HDR merge in LR it's not new a tech. Pretty much everything Adobe incorporate in their softwares is someone other works that has been boughth by Adobe ar even stolen... Take a look at this please: http://jcelaya.github.io/hdrmerge/

I strongly believe, as Laura Shoe believes, that there WILL be dot-releases for bug fixes, new cameras, and new lens profiles.

But I also believe that, even if Lightroom CC subscribers get significant upgrades of extra features, those upgrades MAY not be provided to Lightroom 6 users. They may have to wait for Lightroom 7 instead.

I certainly hope that Lightroom CC subscribers DO get significant upgrades WITHOUT having to wait until Lightroom 7 is released!

Yes, there will be dot releases for both Creative Cloud and standalone, and these will include bug fixes, camera and lens support. The CC version "may" receive new features, but that isn't known for certain.

Well Barry . . . it is simple ...., in the past I did get the incremental upgrades with my standalone LR purchase so, if Adobe has already taken my money (they did) and they change that policy after I have purchased the software without notifying me in advance I will feel duped, ripped off or misled into buying something different from their normal custom.

As far as the truth or fiction of the rumor suggested in the original post by King about how LR6 standalone purchasers will ( or might be ) locked out of incremental decimal updates . Where - or who - is the source for this rumor? If none is stated , it really is just an opinion liable to meaningless "oh I can confirm that I heard that too, but I cannot back it up" But if you have something verifiable about this I would appreciate you saying why you believe at and where you heard it too.

Thank you for that Paul Simon King, Barry Pearson I think my explanation of what I expect is clear but to spell it out again for you I stated " locked out of incremental decimal updates " in my last post. For example from version 5.5 to version 5.7, or to make it even clearer I am talking about the updates that are posted free of charge to purchasers of LR that fall between major releases such as version 5 or version 6, or hypothetically between version 6 and the as yet unreleased version 7.

justinwonnacott: since you still haven't answered my questions, it is surely obvious that I can't know what point you are making!

I'll ask the questions again in the hope that you will answer them. It should be easy for you to do so:

By "incremental upgrades" are you talking about typical intermediate releases that fix bugs and support more cameras and lens profiles?

Or by "incremental upgrades" are you talking about upgrades that provide significant new features?

It is obvious to me that, if you are objecting to lack of upgrades for bug fixes and new cameras and lens, you have a good case. And I'm confident that Adobe will continue to provide such upgrades.

And it is equally obvious to me that, if you are objecting to lack of upgrades for significant new features, you don't have a good case. And Adobe has the right not to provide significant new features that you haven't paid for.

There is obviously a vast difference between those two sorts of "incremental upgrades".

justinwonnacott: I'll take that as an expectation for bug fixes, support for new cameras, and new lens profiles. Thank you!

I support that expectation. It would be wrong for Adobe not to provide it. And I am confident that Adobe will provide it. They've been providing such upgrades since about 2004, when Adobe raw conversion switched into high gear.

There is no consistent history of capability upgrades being provided without extra payment. Indeed, I've seen it stated that Adobe's corporate accounting rules (perhaps based on US law?) prohibit such upgrades.

Obviously there will be people who want capability upgrades and claim they are entitled to them because of a history of "dot releases" that are to do with bug fixes, etc! That won't be taken seriously.

So, when seeking clarification from (say) Adobe (or here) about upgrades during the lifetime of a standalone product, it is essential to be clear about what sorts of upgrades are being discussed.

Sometimes the facts show Adobe screwed up. For example the purchasing process for the standalone version is a mess.

Sometimes the facts show that some people are drawing hasty conclusions. For example by assuming (without evidence) that Adobe won't support standalone Lightroom upgrades for bug fixes, new cameras, and new lenses.

I have no commercial relationship with Adobe (other than paying to use their products). I don't use standalone Lightroom. Nor do I subscribe to the "Photography CC". I subscribe to the full CC, and when Lightroom CC appeared in the CC App, I pressed the Install button and got it without fuss or extra payment.

I could (perhaps should) have stayed away from the angry discussions here. But from my more neutral perspective I could see where discussions were going off at tangents. And I think they sometimes still are.

After having Macs for four years I honestly could never go back to a PC ever again. I know I could build one cheap, but the Mac user experience is excellent. I know Macs are expensive, but once you have one its hard to go back to anything else.

Now I know - Lightroom gets confused! It sits there with the right-click menu on the screen. (Or with Control+H just ignores it). No immediately visible error message. But then there is a small persistent "Unable to merge photos" message in the middle of the screen that apparently I could only get rid of by reloading Lightroom!

But I also NOW know from experience that Lightroom CC can do an HDR merge with just 2 files. In the past I've used 3. Perhaps I'll experiment a bit to see how much I've lost by using 2, since I have both a 2-image and a 3-image output of the same scene.

I am getting pretty tired of Adobes CC policy - keep charging money from me endlessly. I wonder if there is another software that will do what Lightroom do and NOT as a subscription? Pay once - and update when I can afford it?

There are a few. Capture One is probably better than Lightroom, but I have got used to getting good results out of Lightroom although I go to Capture One with some pictures. Silkypix still exists, and I used to get good results out of that. DXO processes raws, but they have a horrible two-tier pricing policy that makes the "cheaper" version of their software no use for many recent cameras.

ACDsee Pro 8 also processes raws although I haven't really delved into that one as a raw processor deeply.

RAWTherapee is freeware, and works. Raw Photo Processor, has a clunky interface, but familiarity will make it easier. GIMP on OS X has a raw plug in ready installed. There's also the OpenSource Lightzone.

I don't advise investing time in the file management abilities of Lightroom anyway when you don't know how much you can trust Adobe (or when you are sceptical of doing so), so I sort my photos by folder structure anyway: Year, date, camera, job. ACDSee will do this too.

I suppose the major reluctance to entering a software subscription model is Adobe's current policy of blocking the program's functionality once the subscription is terminated. A better policy would be to block on-going updates and cloud connectivity in the final subscribed program, but keeping its functionality intact, upon subscription termination. I bet there would be negligible reaction to move to a subscription model with this termination policy (leaving in-situ functionality intact).

MarcLee: We can't even trust any software manufacturer to EXIST (at least in its current form) in 5 years time!

But what would Adobe gain by reneging on the policy statement they made about what works and what doesn't if a Lightroom CC subscription terminates?

This policy is designed to encourage people to subscribe to Lightroom, by countering some of their worries about what happens if they cease payment. They therefore have every reasons to honour that policy. If they fail to honour it, it will contaminate their CC strategy. They will lose credibility.

And what financial benefit would they gain by cancelling this policy even for existing users? I suppose they might coerce some people into remaining with their subscription. But I suspect a lot of people would then decide to make a tidy exit in advance, as a precaution.

If my analysis is wrong, I need to know how! I'm a full-CC subscriber!

I was using it when it was at v. 3.1, and just bought ACDSee Complete Pack 8. They have a very nice deal; the site says it's valid till Apr 23, but it *is* still valid today (Apr 24)... as it often happens with deals ;-)

Too early to tell, but so far I'm more than happy. Yes, UI in LR is more streamlined, and there are few things missing (like, say, brush auto-masking), but that's OK with me -- especially given that browsing, viewing, and organizing photos is way better in ACDSee (for my needs).

Oh, and the ELEPHANT in the room: non-destructive editing in ACDSee is done in such a way that, should they join the dark side one day, I won't need to re-create my edits in some other SW.

{By Barry Pearson (22 hours ago)PhotonCanvas: Are you aware of what happens when a Lightroom CC subscription is terminated?

In summary, from 5.5 and including CC/6, the Develop and Map modules are disabled, and so is access to mobile workflows.

Lightroom still runs, and the other modules continue to work. I've read that even Quick Develop in the Library module continues to work!

.... }

I know that image viewing and basic editing is still available but my point is that upon subscription cancellation ALL local functionality (Import, Develop, Print, Slideshow) should continue working. No upgrades, not even bug fixes, but full functionality. I would also agree with a minimum subscription commitment (say 12 months) which I think is what is required now.

If Adobe allowed all the modules to continue working after cancellation, what would stop people subscribing to CC then cancelling their subscription after one month and having a fully working Lightroom CC for just that amount?

You say "a minimum subscription commitment (say 12 months)". But how would that work? I assume you are not suggesting that a full year would be paid in advance? That isn't how CC works; it is paid monthly, with no up-front large extra payment. (In my case anyway). So how could it be enforced?

And if Adobe cannot get the money for multiples of a year from the user somehow, what then? Presumably they would have to disable parts of Lightroom CC? Like they do now?

Also, note that Adobe pay royalties for the use of the Map module. They don't want to pay those when they are not getting money in.

Ask "how could users game the system to get what they haven't properly paid for?" Adobe don't want that!

I wonder WHY ( ! ? ! ) our whole universe has to deal with issue "Log out and in" with Adobe Creative cloud rubbish in same time when Adobe is collecting our $$$ ...

Isn't this supposed to be, that this LightRoom upgrade fold flawlessly in to our MacBooks and just work ? Why a zillion people suddenly has to become to be computer "programers" instead to do what they supposed to do ... taking a pictures ...

Seriously I am tired of this Adobe B*@@S*@@% of monopoly scrounging everybody left and right ...

Maybe not everyone remembers software called "LivePicture" but sad enough, that we do not have it around in nowadays. It was a marvel. I am sure it was purchased just to stay away from killing Photoshop.

Ok the common solution is to logout/login from CC via preferences panel… but that's not for everyone and I had to uninstall and remove many files including Lightroom 5 then install CC via download dmg, then change admin rights to several folders etc.. disconnect, reboot, etc… to make it start…

Nice article, though. But my question will be simple : have you just tried to install it :D ?????And now that it works, what's really new ?- it's faster -> absolutely not- panorama : exactly the same with the standalone Photoshop CS6 - HDR : same - Face recognition… oh yes that for a 75 euros upgrade fee and the joy to have a CC spy on your system...

I like being able to do HDR in Lightroom.I liked being able to do Panos in Lightroom.I like being able to do Panos from HDRs in Lightroom.The sliders in the Develop module are pretty well instantaneous.

However, these are just my opinions, and no one else has to share them! And because I have a full subscription to CC, it didn't cost me anything extra anyway.

I use the Gradient Filter a lot and the new brush addition will save me a lot of time by letting me use it even more. Sometimes it only takes one feature to make the upgrade worthwhile.And the HDR and Panorama modes will be handy too.

Well quite right, I don't deny there are great features in Lightroom, of course I'm using it !!! The thing is that Adobe have a more and more aggressive way with their clients with less and less benefits for them. But what's worse is this upgrade. It has never been worse. The Adobe forums are full of people complaining about the application not starting. The support is just overwhelmed : I still didn't have any answer, while spending hours reading forums ad trying solutions to just install this upgrade and get the application to work. One full day of work lost just for an upgrade wow :this is just not acceptable. Some people had more chance with the support it seems though, but are they really numerous (or not French perhaps ;))Anyway, it's just issues for privileged people, so of course, I'm just angry to be a sucker to pay for such bad quality products and for trying to keep a bit of freedom using them. And there is nothing really important...

UneVache: I think there is no doubt that Adobe made serious errors with providing the upgrade!

(Why? Did more people want to take this upgrade than normal? Was it over-complicated by the mixture of CC and standalone upgrades?)

But whether the new product itself is good is a separate topic. Some people appear to like it, once they overcome the trauma of getting the product. And some don't see the point!

As a CC subscriber, I would like to see more frequent upgrades, of smaller sets. (This is how I get upgrades to Photoshop, etc). But this would appear to conflict with people who take it as a standalone product, and presumably don't want to keep paying for upgrades!

Will we find that subscribers get smaller sets more often, then these get wrapped up into less frequent packages for the purchasers?

Or will the existence of the low-frequency purchasers prevent the subscribers from getting more frequent updates? That may cause conflict between the two types of customer!

Barry : Anyway, people always try to compare price/feature rendition between the two formulas. I would say, for already CS owners, hold on with CS will be about 120 euros a year for PS and LR (while 144 for CC Photo combo) For newcomers, CC is much more interesting… I think Adobe people calculate quite well to keep the long CS users paying for CS as long as possible and have many people coming to them with CC… quite well done. Hey, they are financial specialists aren't they ? I'm not.Now, I must say I would like to try Capture One these last days, and this last upgrade is a great motivation to get my money back for the moment, especially seeing pano feature being so long and just crashing under LR while PS external process just rolls and is twice faster… As you say, they really made some errors with this upgrade but yes it's quite right that as we say in France : ils sont victimes de leur succès… ;)I usually avoid upgrading the first days of publishing, but.. well stupid me.

The reason is that I use not just Lightroom and Photoshop (and Bridge), but other products too, including Dreamweaver and a few other small ones. (I create and maintain my own websites, etc).

I needed to get updates of some of the non-photography products from early versions. So far CC has been cheaper than the alternative. But even without that, I like getting extra features when they are individually ready, rather than as a major upgrade every year or two.

I get both major and minor updates to all of these products, and sometimes a new product comes along that I wasn't even expecting!

I haven't downloaded most of the major products available to me: Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Fireworks, and many more.

I can see both sides. I accept that for some people the CC model is not what they want. I hope that Lightroom continues both ways. But CC is very good for me.

Unevache, I can recommend Capture One. I use it as an alternative, and if you spend enough time with it I think it can produce better results than Lightroom. For most of my stuff, for now, I stick with Lightroom, but if there's a really special image I want to pull the absolute best out of, I do try Capture One.

LR CC doesn't get opened ! Tested many hours, but no! Windows 7. On CC platform is written that LR CC (2015) is ok, but I can't open it. On the icon, only ''Lightroom'' is written. What is going on with Adobe? People are doing thousands of hours of work, without results. ADOBE, WHY DON'T YOU SAY ANYTHING !

I live in Canada and have finally managed to install the Lightroom 6 standalone upgrade. It has not been easy.

Took quite a bit of hunting and clicking to find a link for this. Paid for the upgrade with my credit card. Order took 24 hours to be processed. Once processed, I clicked on the link to download. Got an html error message saying "Header too Large". Called the 8000 number. On hold for a half hour and gave up. Tried their chat support. Better success. Got a response within 5 minutes. Support guy said problem was my browser (Firefox); suggested I try Chrome. Did that and download worked. Started the install. Install software reported there was a reboot pending. Did the reboot. Successfully started the install... (cont'd in response)

...(cont'd) Install wanted me to log on with my Adobe ID (apparently Adobe is determined to get us all on the cloud no matter what they say about continuing to support standalone for LR). Logged on with my Adobe ID. Adobe prompted for a serial number. Assumed this was the LR 6 SN I had been given. Nope. Wanted the serial number of LR 5, which I was upgrading from. Took a while to figure that out because screen messaging is not clear. Entered that and installation went fine. LR 6 started up and asked if I wanted to convert my catalog. Said yes. LR 6 opens up but no images from my LR 5 catalog have made the transition.

This has not been the sort of easy process it has been in the past and it has not been a well engineered one. I expected better from Adobe.

I couldn't find the upgrade option but went into support chat, the "agent" gave me the link required - paid by cc, downloaded, converted the catalogue - opened no problem. It also left my installation of LR5.7 intact along with the 5.7 catalogue

Rbrt I'm sorry you've had so much trouble. I certainly am not referring to you as a whiner with your level of problems. My post was aimed at people who's only complaint was they had trouble finding a link to buy the standalone version.I also thought it was important to point out that many of us did the upgrade without a hitch. Adobe didn't totally screw up here, but as you've experienced, they made some mistakes.

Paid $79USD last night to download and install the STANDALONE version of Lightroom 6 Upgrade.Sure Adobe isn't promoting the standalone version much and they put the link at the bottom of the webpage, but it wasn't that hard to find. A lot of whiners on here.

You're entitled to your opinion but you are not entitled to slag those of us who found the process confusing and badly engineered. Before you start insulting me as a "whiner", you should know that I just retired after many years spent earning a decent living as a software developer and have been using LR since version 2.

One thing that is axiomatic in software development is that poor interfaces generate huge tech support loads. This is certainly the case here.

Lightroom has a beautifully engineered interface and that should be the focus on the discussion. Instead this forum is littered by people picking apart Adobe's website design, on launch day no less. If that isn't the definition of whining, then I don't know what is. Call me an Adobe fanboy if you want...

As of right now, upgrade to standalone LR6 is just completely unavailable in any form in Russia and other countries, and that seems to be a deliberate decision on Adobe's part. LR CC is being pushed down our throats.

Brian1366, I'm not sure what your criteria is for a "beautifully designed interface" but that is a very high standard to meet. For me, it would start with making sure the download process is trouble free - for example, if you try to download the software YOU HAVE PAID FOR using a browser that is not supported, you would get a message that says "Downloads are not supported for the browser you are using. Please try another browser." HTML 413 error pages (Header too large) are not something users should see when following instructions.

Yes. Did you? It installs 350mb of crapware that Adobe calls Creative Cloud Desktop. I measured 350mb on my MAC, forgot to do it on my PC before installation. CC runs a few processes on your computer even if it is not started; and runs more when it is, without LR/PS started.

Why don't you try it before responding? And then tell us how to uninstall it because Windows refuses to uninstall CC. I managed to remove it but it was not easy.

"It is important to keep separate the 2 aspects: design of the product; and design of the download process."

Disagree. The installation process is part of the software design and processes. It is the process by which the software bootstraps itself onto your computer. It is one of the most important processes in the product - without it, nothing else matters. The distinction you describe is artificial. Good software design requires attention to ALL processes.

Adobe has the resources to do better. They are a leading software maker and their customers have a right to expect the highest standard. This is not some struggling startup.

Rbrt: Of course "Good software design requires attention to ALL processes"! And I didn't say otherwise.

In fact I said "Both are important, but mustn't be conflated because then we lose essential information."

Of course it is important to keep the two areas separate! In fact it is important to keep all sorts of processes separate. Support, for example. Different people will experience in different ways, and different methods are needed to fix them.

In my career as an engineer and business analyst in the computer industry, I was always aware of the need to analyse systems into components (whether hardware, software, or processes) so that they could be separately fixed and developed.

It is vitally important to note what I said:

"Both are important"!

(And please note: I subscribe to CC, so I didn't have the problems that purchasers had. Some people were affected by those website and similar problems. Some people were not. An example of why the processes should be kept separate).

Its installation process was among major factors that killed it... I still remember an article in one computer magazine titled "Nine points on the Richter scale", written specifically about author's experience (rather nightmarish) with OS/2 installation.

We can argue your point regarding processes, but it's like fighting over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Adobe is an industry leader and has the resources to do better. They can reasonably be expected to do better. As you said "They have only themselves to blame!"

With respect to your lesson for purchasers... the other lesson would be for software companies who rush into the launch before adequate testing is done!

It's May 6th, and more than 2 weeks after launch standalone LR6 is still not available in Russia from Adobe. Their softkey.ru partner has it, but no upgrades there. But one can buy LR CC 6 in an instant. Nothing changed in 2 weeks.

Once again, that is not just intermittent problem, that's blunt deliberate attempt to herd as many people as possible towards CC.

I know you didn't like my term "regional glitch". Perhaps there is an alternative term "regional tactical decision".

But what you are experiencing isn't the global case. If Adobe decided to make a "blunt deliberate attempt to herd as many people as possible towards CC", they simply wouldn't have made Lightroom 6 purchasable anywhere!

Somewhere between Adobe HQ and Russia, a corporate decision failed to be implemented in one (or more) regions. I suspect Corporate HQ would be surprised by this.

My point is that they pushed it as far as they felt they could get away with... this time.

Besides, Barry, I never ever said they've decided to ditch standalone LR. What I am saying is that they decided to try it; they're testing the water, and go as far as current market and users will allow them. If one day they find out that remaining standalone LR audience is not big/important enough, that day standalone LR will vanish.

If, however, they never manage to reach that point, well, then maybe not only LR will survive, but they could even drastically improve associated services... With current 2..10 (!) days delivery of an electronic-only product, that shouldn't represent any difficulty.

I can smell the CC $hit train rolling over us pretty soon - who is googling for alternatives like DarkTable as well? Instead of implementing network catalogs years ago, they are now enforcing cloud and face recognition.. => seems like a definitive NO-GO for me.

I'm jumping out the LR/CC field probably soon with a few pains I can imagine in this moment:- Passport ColorChecker being tight onto LR- All my local photo adjustments in LR catalog- Collections I've defined in LR- Export-Actions- ???

I've looked into the LR catalog, it's just a SqlLite DB file, so I could code some scripts to get the collections/keywords data into another format, if the alternative (as DarkTable) supports it.

Try Capture One - much more advanced processing engine with very configurable UI. It can import LR catalogs, so you meta data will be imported pretty accurately. IT also tries to handle photo adjustments.

Thanks for the tip, I've looked already there - seems to be really good! The only issue: it's once more a SW where some smart managers can decide to make it 'cloud' instead of implementing real stuff like network sharing support - or even flush it down the toilet as in Aperture case, all just because of financial reasons and no user demand. I wasn't developing SW for *nix more than 15 years now, but am considering it these days.. It's the same story Apple decided not to support 10 bit color depth, which is pretty shocking, as most folks are @MACs as of the graphics/sound - you can check it here (it's in DE, sorry) http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Bitte-10-Bit-Apple-sperrt-sich-gegen-10-Bit-Farbwiedergabe-2612003.html

"Adobe has confirmed that all the non-connected features will be included in a standalone software package called Lightroom 6, which will continue to be available as a perpetual license for $149. It's also available to existing Lightroom customers for $79 as an upgrade to any previous version."

Sorry, but I live in Finland and this option does not exist anywhere on Adobe's web pages. So, how about correcting that statement? The only standalone upgrade I can access is version 5 (which I already own).

NB : my feeling is that Adobe don't want to promote "standalone application" for the near future.. I'm not sure at all that LR will be available in this form in next years, although Adobe's management promise it !If you have an account for Adobe site, you'll get the LR CC instead of LR6 as trial for the first month ! And this even if you have a serial number. Here's no difference concerning features but Adobe PUSH LR CC with subscription. If you 'unconnect' from inside the LR Help menu, you keep LR working, which is not the case with standard LR CC subscription release of course !The situation of LR6 / LR CC is a little bit confusing if you have a closer look.

I live in Canada. Went to the Adobe web site and after much hunting and clicking, finally found the page where I could buy an upgrade to standalone Lightroom 6 (from 5). Entered credit card info and had to wait 24 hours for the order to be processed. Order finally processed and clicked on the link Adobe provided for the download. Got a 413 html error page reporting "Header Length too Large". Called Adobe, was put on hold for over a half hour. Finally gave up on phone and hung up. Now Adobe has my money and I have no software. Still getting that stupid error page.

Yes the link given by @KingofAtlantis works.. but is a little bit confusing because it doesn't work with Safari, with Firefox it's ok !!

We have to admit that ADOBE don't want to SELL LR6 as STANDALONE Application. It's quite impossible to find a direct link to Standalone trials applis except "Elements".. That is another point which convience me that LR will not remain a Standalone application, in perhaps 2 or 3 years. I bet with hope I'll loose !The link I've indicated in previous post is ok if you want to BUY the upgrade.

New cameras and lenses (modules) are not supported in the older versions. You can convert to DNG first (which is what Adobe wants you to do) but new lenses are still not supported. If you upgrade your equipment, at some point the old LR version is not so useful anymore.

It's very differnt to PS but similar to 'HDR Merge' it creates a unique dng file that can be edited just like a raw but with much greater detail in shadows due to the lack of noise. However it lacks some of the functions HDR Merge provide...http://jcelaya.github.io/hdrmerge/

my mistake from the previous post. The update tab inside Lightroom was prompting me to update of ver. 5.7. I already had it...so ver 6 is the next version...and will cost. I'll wait til it arrives in a local store. I prefer a little of money money to stay in the community I live in.

went on Adobe's site to buy update LR5 to LR6. Could not find it anywhere. Went to their chat help and they wasted my time asking me irrelevant questions and finally giving me another bad link. Shame on them!

You need to add the full product to your shopping cart. Then go into the cart and click "edit" on the item (that is, edit the full Lightroom 6).

After hitting edit you will see a drop down menu that says "Full". Click on this and select "Upgrade". Then you have to select from a separate drop down menu which version of Lightroom you are upgrading from.

Finally you need to hit SAVE CHANGES at the bottom of the page to save your change to the shopping cart.

I cannot buy Adobe photography pack in Serbia for 10$/m. Creative cloud is restricting its content and is only available in certain countries, all with different prices. How uncool is that?

Adobe, say the price you want - 10$, 20$, 100$, whatever. Make up your mind. But it's up to clients whether they will buy it or not. But restricting the content with prices that vary from country to country is just rude and greedy.

You lost another customer who is forced to stay on the pirated PS & LR. Forced by you.

I checked out the ACR9 update for PS CS6 which was released along LR6.

It lacks the UI for the additional LR6 features (like erasing from the gradient filter). However, it actually DOES recognize those enhanced features (e.g., if found in the accompanying .xmp sidecar file) and renders LR6 editings correctly. Only thing missing are the extra buttons in the UI.

So, there are no problems to be expected in handing over a LR6-edited raw file over to one or several PS CS6 smart object layers.

Visited PhotoAcute's site, searched for a profile for my camera (a7II). Not there. Checked date of last update - November last year (oh dear, doesn't look good). Visited their support forum (http://photoacute.com/forum/index.php/topic,1346.0.html):

Dear PhotoAcute users,

It's time to confess and apologize.

In the end of the last year we found ourselves in a situation when we have no resources to develop and support PhotoAcute without a harm to our projects. At the moment we do not support PhotoAcute anymore, so we do not produce the profiles as well.

We still hope to revitalize the project in future but I cannot give any warranty.

PhotoAcute is best used w/o a camera profile. I.e., use the camera profile with the least impact which is the profile of the ideal lens.

The profile I am using for years now is Nikon D40/Sigma 30/1.4 at F4.5. Just use any profile where the lens is MUCH better than the sensor requires. I don't care if they say to maintain the software as it just works.

For those of you with the same install problem I had yesterday, i.e. you reboot, sign in/out of the CC app, etc etc and LR won't launch from the tile, it did work for me just now. I presume Adobe did something overnight since absolutely nothing changed on my end.

I'm the last person to bash Adobe, but all these problems do really suck. Plus when I was trying this, LR5 lost track of what DB I was using, that I was a registered user (displayed the serial number screen). Now I'm a "trial user" for both photoshop and LR. I'm LOGGED IN with the CC app. Why should it be so hard, querying the Adobe license server, not to mention info it could store on my hard drive, that I'm a legit monthly paying user?

Thanks guys. I was talking about the one that is on the box cover which appears to be Trolltinga (I don't think I need a translation for that name!). I was planning a trip to some fjords sometime in the future so I will make sure this is on the list. It looks awesome!

p.s. you should type trolltunga into a google image search and see what the crazy people do on it. There is a guy doing a handstand right at the edge. I don't mind a little risk, but that seems pretty unwise!

Beautiful place, and not very easy to reach. It's a 10 hour round trip hike, with 1000 meter ascend. You might want to check Kjeragbolten too. It also requires a hike with some scrambling, but still easier to reach. Especially when lugging your D800.. ;)

I hope that they've thoroughly fixed their panorama stitching engine. My experience with PSE10 stitching was that it seemed to choke on anything more than five high-resolution photos, which is why I switched to MS ICE.

Good, I hope that trickles down to their PSE products, which I am limited to at my workplace.

My typical stitching is 12 images averaging 8-9mpxl each. PSE10 would not do more than 5 images without crashing, and took a long time just processing 5 images. This is on a relatively fast machine - i7 3740QM @ 2.7Ghz, 64-bit, 8mb ram. Using ICE, it did all 12 images quickly (less than one minute) with great results.

Here's another way, albeit unintentionally, that Adobe has lent Apple a hand. I have one of the first MacPros (early adopter = fool) and the latest OS it will run is 10.7. To be fair, the MacPro has gone longer without obsolesce than any of my cameras.

It's just frustrating and annoying that people still claim that LR isn't available standalone, when it actually is. Not to mention the doom-mongering about it disappearing as a standalone product Any Second Now, which still hasn't happened.

Barry, you seem not have read the problems many people have had in even getting access to it through Adobe's own site, particularly outside the US. At the same time, it was ADOBE, and not us, who claimed that Lightroom would NOT be emphasising CC any time soon.

Why so defensive? No one is asking for the precious cloud to die. We are just asking for the choice we always had. If the cloud is REALLY the best economic choice for most people they have the brains to make that decision for themselves.

The bottom line is the subscription model comes into play simply because the software is now mature enough that further upgrades will likely be minor. It takes the onus OFF the company to innovate or do anything to earn your upgrade money. What amazes me is that some of you cannot see this.

Aah, so now you're changing your story! Now it's just difficult to find on the website (but far from impossible, as dozens of posts here attest).

Barry and I aren't being defensive, as amusing as your accusation is. We're just trying to understand your rants about a problem that doesn't actually exist. You DO still ahve the choice you always had; why do you insist that you don't? LR6 is available standalone, and it takes just a few seconds of eyes-open to find the link of the LR6 page (hint: bottom-right corner).

RPJG I really don't see the point of arguing with someone when you don't know what he has said or written. I bought it eventually. It was far from easy, and Adobe took me to a creative cloud page and/or greyed out the upgrade option many times first.

As for Adobe promises, let's see:

"Q. Will Lightroom become a subscription only offering after Lightroom 5?

A. Future versions of Lightroom will be made available via traditional perpetual licenses indefinitely."

Well it seems increasingly likely that indefinitely is a pretty short time. As I've said, I have one foot in and one foot out of Lightroom, and am damned if I'll use it as a photo management system when all that time investment can be too easily rendered useless.

Right, so now you've changed your argument from "Adobe won't let me buy it standalone" to "I reckon that any second now they'll stop me from doing it, even though" they've explicitly said they won't do that". Awesome.

So, you wear a tinfoil hat. That's great. But even if that ever happens, just don't use CC. Just go to Capture 1 or whatever other tool takes your fancy. Whinging about something that probably won't ever happen is hardly the way to live a constructive life. Sheesh.

Do you work for them by any chance? I ask because you are determined to miscontrue the position of others in order to defend them. Do you REALLY think the choice of the word "indefinitely" is an accident?

As I've explained elsewhere, Lightroom is supposed to be not just a processing programme but a media management programme. It takes time, effort, and resources, to import, say, four terabytes worth of images from many years into a programme or library.

Your argument seems to be that it does not matter if you cannot trust the software maker to not waste that work or force any conditions it likes on you once you have invested that effort.

Whether you are aware of it or not, Apple all but destroyed its reputation with professional film and video editors when it decided to dump its original Final Cut Pro for FCPX. After an uproar it kept the old software alive, and I know film and TV editors who still use it even while knowing their software is heading towards obsolescence.

Because FCP had so MUCH become a standard, companies had bought hardware and plugins to get the most out of it. All that investment was wasted too. Now people are going to Avid and Premiere and determined not to trust Apple again for professional work. That's fine, if it is what the company wants. And Apple seems not to care. It wants hobbyists and consumers predominantly these days, not professionals. Heck, the new Macbooks, with one I/O are even LESS versatile than the old ones.

But essentially your argument is no different from those Apple shills who just told the professionals to suck it up. And no, they were not wearing tin hats either. Really, grow up in your mode of discourse.

LOL! There's nothing like the old "do you work for them" line to clearly indicate to everyone that you're a conspiracy nut. And the only ones lying here are the people who claim it's no longer available as standalone.

Joseph Black: you said "there's no reason to think that will continue for much longer".

If someone buys Lightroom 6 as a stand-alone package now, how long will they be able to use it for? I often see people in these forums saying that one of the reasons they don't want a subscription is that they don't take all major upgrades. Others say they will freeze on the latest version rather than pay for a subscription.

This suggest to me that someone purchasing Lightroom 6 now should be able to use it for at least a few years, possibly many years.

That appears to postpone any crisis, caused by a (hypothetical) change of mind by Adobe, for a possibly long time. If one of my greatest worries was what will be my payment plan for upgrading a software package in so many years time, I would be an even happier person!

GaryJP: a lot of people were concerned about what would happen to their images and the management of them if they stopped paying the CC subscription.

Clearly a legitimate (major) worry!

As I understand it, since Lightroom 5.5, if someone stops paying the subscription, the Develop and Map modules stop working. (Adobe pays royalties to provide the Map module). The other 5 modules are still OK. I have read that Quick Develop still works!

I don't have personal experience of the above, but the information has been published on the web so it shouldn't be hard to confirm or otherwise.

Will all the whiners please switch to Capture 1 already (like you keep threatening to do, but don't) so these comments sections can actually discuss the new product and not be filled with complaining about something that happened 2 years ago?

"people who pay to use your product"Why are you paying to use a product from a company that you hate? I don't like Panera Bread, so guess what? I don't eat there! And I don't hang out on Panera Bread websites whining about them!

Actually no. Some are complaining about the sidelining of the standalone version and you are consistently misrepresenting what they have said. And this IS a current issue. If you care so much about people criticising it, how about starting your OWN constructive comments? Or, as I said, set up your own "Adobe Love" forum.

"Did you stop drinking vodka every morning?" <-- That's an example of a simple question that (more often than not...) cannot be answered with Yes or No. Your question is similar in that respect.

Adobe does not provide upgrades from standalone LR5 to LR6 in Russia, even though full version is available from Softkey.ru. There is no word from their support as to whether it will ever become available (yes, I asked).

I own two LR5 copies that I bought for myself and my daughter. Lack of upgrade for me means lack of respective version, period. It's not a matter of money though, it's a matter of principle. Your mileage may vary.

That's why Apple switched - principally because IBM stopped developing mobile-capable iterations of the PowerPC chip - which was where the gap was really starting to show. But every new version of a chip seems to promise 'twice as fast' or whatever. In practice it's usually marginally faster. Apple it may surprise you aren't the only company to over-hype their new products.

Standalone Lightroom 6 is still missing on adobe.ru... But one can, of course, conveniently buy Lightroom CC 6. (Yes, there is http://www.adobe.com/ru/products/photoshop-lightroom.html which has a "Lightroom 6 - Buy" link at the very bottom, but that leads to store selector that causes infinite page loop in Chrome and FF [and hangs browsers, eventually], and leads to Lightroom 5 in IE).

Their sales in Russia are handled by Softkey.ru. Their site does have LR6, but only full version, not upgrade. Just got off the call with their customer support, they confirmed -- no upgrades.

Now ignoramuses like David Rossberg would say that's whining... OK, Mr. Smarty Pants, tell me how I can upgrade LR5 to 6 w/o signing up to CC.

On Amazon uk if you search on Lightroom 6, it comes up with 5 and states in small print on the page that there's a version 6. Clicking on that it says 2 to 4 weeks for delivery. Obviously Adobe want to tie people in to its monthly fiddle.

It will be interesting to read your comments when Adobe starts switching everyone to, say, some Creative Nebula plan, with a requirement to subscribe to a paid weekly Adobe Buzz Magazine, with an extra requirement to upload an image to the cloud before you can edit it, and other terribly useful goodies.

You know, I am myself guilty of asking people of what was the big deal with PS CC as their PS6 still kept working... I'm sure you will look at things differently one day, too.

If you run any ad-blockers, you should whitelist *.adobe.com . I had some trouble purchasing (from Austria) with Ghostery and AdBlock Plus running on adobe.com . Things got slightly better after I whitelisted the domain in both blockers.

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